ANZAC VOCABULARY.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 15874, 13 April 1917, Page 9

ANZAC VOCABULARY.

NEW WORDS AND PHRASES,

(By C. G. P.. in Sydney "Daily Telegraph.")

I venture to say that if an average Australian averagely slang-acquainted were set down to-night in one of our tents in France and listened to the (boys as they talk amd joke and chaff, he would not understand the greater part of their conversation. It is not the words themselves so much as the manner in which they are used and the significance that attaches to thom would puzzle, him. For the war has brought with it a great incrcaso in our vocabulary, and the slang dictionary will have to ho re-compiled to be up-to-date. We have bc-on in strange countries, and we have picked up and assimilated to our ovvn use strange words. The stay in LOgvpt naturally meant an influx of Egyptian or Australianised Egyptian words. "Saida" (or Saveeda) became the common greeting, "pooadaj," "good-night," ''good-bye,'' all became "sayeeda.'' The term passed very cjuickly to tho Australians themselves and "to their distinctive hat. "Where's your sayeeda hat?" Or at times when tho troop trains went j>ast here. "Who arc these chaps?" "feayeedas:' (i.e., Australians) is the answer. "[• went, to Dublin," recounts one traveller. "and blowed if I didn't seo tw-o sayeeda6 coining down the street. We were soon good 'cobbers'" —a great Australian word for fViends. "Bukshee" is another importation from tho Egyptian. "Baksheesh" is "something for nothing," "alms." The children —ay, and men and women, too-— beseech the foreigners for "baksheesh —a gift, a tip. So a "bukshee feed •would he a meal scored for nothing or at someone else's expense. J'Bukshee stripes'' betoken the fact that the wearer holds a certain rank but doesn't draw the equivalent pay. A corporal acting as a sergeant has one "Bukshee stripe or an acting-sergeant drawing no extra duty pav at all would be a "Bnksheo sergeant." A "Bukshee fag" is a cigarette which has been asked for, "cadged," "Nudged," "nipped,' "hummed"—all of these terms expressing tho act of borrowing or trading upon good nature. "Mafeesh" is.another word that will live. It occupies the same place with us as "finee" (French, fini, finished) does for Tommy Atkins. One of the first Egyptian expressions you learned was "Mafeesh felouse" (Finished my money, no money left). And so everything became "Mafeesh." A wornout tunic is "Mafcesli." A good excuse -worked too often is "Mafeesh. Giving evidence at the court-martial, one fellow said, 'I got a crack behind tho car, and mafeesh," leaving the colonel to understand that after the blow ho took no further interest in tho proceedings. "Iggaree" (I do not vooch- for the spelling) means "quickly," and was soon adopted and corrupted. As they rode about in carriages ("garries" for all timo to tho Anzac), tho cry was al'Avays "Iggaree." Being accustomed to the military expression "at the double," he soon crossed it by "at tho ig." So you might hear a corporal, "Come on, you chaps, fall in at the ,ig." And they all readily understand that haste is required? This by no means exhausts the Egyptian vocabulaTy—as a matter of fact, tho Anzac rather prides himself on his linguistic abilities, "and really the way he can make himself understood to a foreigner is remarkable. Thero is "Imshi" (go), "Yalhrh" (go), 01; when together very strong, "Imishi yatlah' (go to blazes), "Doghreo," or "Doggaree" (go on, go straight ahead). "Stanna" (stop), *'Stanna swah" pronounced as spelt (stop a little while), but these are all probably that will last. These and "Galio" (Gallipoli), "The Peninsh" (Tho Peninsula), will stand for all time in our language.

Coming on to Franco tho Anzac eoon increased his vocabulary. (good), "Tray bon'' (very good)j or "No bon" (no good) were soon standardised.. The Egyptian "Quicc kitoer" (very good) will run "Tray bon" very close and will die hard. "Finee" and "Naipoo" were soon picked up. The latter word comes from Mr Atkins from the French "n'y a plus." He went into a shop, and asked for something, but was told "II n'y a plus," so he quickly got to understand that "naipoo" (as. he corrupted it) meant "nothing doing." So ho applied it on all hands. "Got a fag, mate?" "Naipoo" is the answer. "1 asked the O.C. but—naipoo—;l asked her to marry me, but got the naipoo (which signifies a polite refusal) — "We thought they were coming, but naipoo" (which signifies a fals© alarm). When you talk of Tommy Atkins you naturally think of "blighty," his name for England. For us, too, it is just the same —it is "Blighty." It is said to be a corrupted Hindustani word for Great Britain —"the land across the water." But whatever its origin tho English soldier in India rjopulariscd it as a synonym for "home.' 1 He talked of "Blighty," dreamed of "Blighty," and thus when he was wounded and sent off to England he joyously proclaimed the facb_ that he had got a "Blighty," meaning to imply a wound sufficiently serious to necessitate his removal to England. Hear the boys in the tent, "Where's old Bill now?" "Oh, he was dead lucky, he got a blighty in the knee!" Which means that "poor old Bill's ' knee was not likely to rccovor very quickly, and so his reenperation would take placo. in England. ft is only those who have "been out there'' and have spent weary months in the trenches who can appro, ciate where the luck comes in.

To return To the French, however. The bewildered Frenchman shook his head in despair, and said something about "compris," so our hoys quickly learned that "corcroree" had to do with understanding. "Compreo?" (do you understand?), says one, after efforts to make himself understood. .or "No eompree" (I don't understand), after vain efforts on his part. "Mongy ' was as near.as possible to "Manger, to eat," so you hear, "Have you had your mongy?" or "Conic and monpy." "I had a great mongy at for tiro francs." "Allay" (allcz, go, or allozvous-en, 21 away) soon becp;me as popular as "Imshi." though the Anzacs have quite educated the younger French preneration as to the meaning—ay, and wisdom! —of "allay'' when they are told. As a matter of fact, the French people think the Fayptian words we use are pure Australian, and I was once asked in all frood faith, "Do all Australians speak English?" TVe were- not the first Australians to land at Marseilles, but imagine our surprise at being greeted by "Savceda kid," "mafeesh felouse," "irashi yallah/' "quice kitccr" —and the like.

It is not only the foreign words that havo been corrupted and assimilated, howerer. Many of our own words have row meaning as never before. "Chronic" is a gSod example, it stands for anything very bad. The rainy weather is "chronic," fewd is "chronic,"

getting no letters is '/chronic. , to nuttv" expressed the same feel" ihongh 1 have not the faintest to derivation. "These rooties are "tip to putty," says to be translated, means Ko . ut ?" marches (rooties) are 110 good (up putty)" "Beat it" (S<>, hurry off) was learned from the Canadians. must 'beat it' now," "its time to beat it," "I beat tt for my hfe, all express the-idea of going or burryttTo "float a note" or "flash a. conies from the universal use of pap money. If you have any money a* all, it, is in five-franc, two-franc, on - franc, or half-franc notes, so to , P duco onp or have ore is to nasii or "float" it. A Dositwn ox any sore has cot reduced to~"nosi" (pronounccd A sniper has ;v « "nosi"; a place in the tent Tincrc did not leak, would be a good posi. "Cushy" (doubtless from cushion) implies something soft and easy. cushy iob" is a soft, permanent position not entailing much ™ rk - K lKl f A.H.P. (Assistant Provost Marshal) at Paris, for mstancc, is much «nvied tor his "cushy job." A "cushy wound is a flesh wound, not causing much pain or serious consequences. Not the least significant of the jar words are those by which tho soldier refers to death. At all times shrink from the actual word death, and ever sinco man first began to clothe his language in poetry has has sought to take the sting, as it were, out of this word. We speak of "across the border," "the great unknown," .aitl to rest." "departing in peace. Shakespeare has pat it, 'After lite s fretful fever, ho sleeps well, iind the Greeks and the Romans did it before u.s. But tho soldier has evolved nis own expressions. "So and so stopped one" (presumably a bullet), "went out to it." "took the count" (expressions from the boxing arena), "got it m the neck" (where the severing of the .iugular vein is fatal), "passed in his checks" (an Americanism), but none of these equals in simplicity or poetry the quieb words, "gone west." The war has meant the untimely cutting off oi many in their prime, and as the sun, its daily journey o'er, sinks in a blaze of glory, in the western sky, so these young lives, glorious in their death, have gone west.